Difficulty making cookies

I am not a comfy grandmother who has a pantry full of baked goods. I have recorded in this journal my struggles with cooking. Despite having relished every episode of The Great British Baking Show for five seasons, there has been no improvement. Even making simple roll-out cookies is beyond me, though I’ve attempted it every year since Bella was two. The dough is too dry or too wet, too hard or too soft, and it sticks to the rolling pin or crumbles beneath it. The cookies, once made, are either too tough to bite or too crumbly to decorate without losing an arm here, a leg there. Every year I forget how difficult it all is, and every year people give me tips that I forget by the time the next winter rolls round. I have no improvements to tell you about. 

Bella and Evan spent the day with me. I recently found cookie-cutters in the shape of Ninjas, Dragons, and Castles, so I essayed the task yet again. I made the dough yesterday before going to the Dia de Muertos event, and it was hard as a brick this morning when the children arrived. I warmed the dough a bit in the microwave, and then it was too soft, so it had to go back into the fridge. While we waited for it to reach rolling consistency, Bella painted Evan’s face and I made breakfast for us all. (It was not pancakes, Eggs Benedict, nor a lovely omelet with fresh herbes de jardin.) 

Eventually we did get some edible cookies made, cut out, baked, and decorated. It took the whole day. We delivered some to a few of my neighbors, and the children took home a nice stack of cookies for their parents. As Bella and I struggled with the task, Evan turned out a basket full of baubles and put the basket on his head (See Extra) declaring, “This my Ninja hat. Nobody ever see me in this. It make me invisible!”